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Packers Daily Links: Jackson Praised By McCarthy

Head coach Mike McCarthy said running back Brandon Jackson had his best game as a member of the Green Bay Packers during his day-after press conference on Monday. "Jackson averaged 4.5 yards on 13 carries and continued to thrive in pass protection," writes Kareem Copeland of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "With the first quarter winding down, Jackson caught a short pass out of the backfield and raced 36 yards, even running away from some defenders. It was the third longest play from scrimmage of his career - Jackson had a 71-yard run vs. Washington two weeks ago and a 46-yard run against Detroit in 2007 – and showed a gear that had been unseen thus far in 2010." Now we see whether McCarthy's praise turns into more carries for Jackson.

Defensive lineman Mike Neal and linebacker Brady Poppinga are heading for injured reserve, ending their season. "Their injuries could open the roster spots needed to add cornerback Al Harris and safety Atari Bigby to the 53-man roster when they are activated from the physically unable to perform list, presumably sometime this week," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin. It only makes sense that the pair will be replaced by Harris and Bigby, because room needs to be made for their return.

Because of the injury to Neal, the Packers will be forced to look deep down the depth chart on the defensive line. "They managed to survive Sunday night against the Minnesota Vikings thanks to the relentless efforts of Raji, rookie seventh-round draft pick C.J. Wilson and second-year pro Jarius Wynn, a sixth-round pick who was cut at the end of training camp only to be re-signed last month," writes Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette. "Now, it looks like that same trio will have to do the bulk of the work when the Packers play at the New York Jets this Sunday." Are the Packers, however, going to need to add some bulk to their defensive line? They are missing Pickett's run-stuffing ability.

Putting two and two together, Total Packers surmises that linebacker Brad Jones likely fractured Brett Favre's ankle. "Favre limped around and finished the game, but today it was revealed Favre has a stress fracture and an avulsion fracture in his heal," writes Monty McMahon. "Favre wore a walking boot around the Vikings’ facility, Monday, and the injury puts his chances of starting next week in serious jeopardy." It would be ironic if Favre's last start would be against the Packers.

Looking back at the game, the offensive line is given their due by Cliff Christl and Eric Barnaczyk for the Press-Gazette. "Aaron Rodgers wasn’t pressured the entire game," according to the article. "The tackles, Clifton and Bryan Bulaga, were outstanding in pass protection. There wasn’t much push inside, either. The Vikings’ front four isn’t what it used to be. Considering his struggles early, it’s almost as if Clifton has come back from the dead. And Bulaga’s upper-body strength is impressive for a rookie. There were a couple of times he just stood up Ray Edwards." It's hard to imagine Bryan Bulaga ever going back to being a backup.

Pat Lee will remain the kick returner according to Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum. "Right now I think he's doing a good job, adding some juice to the return unit," Slocum is quoted as saying. "I like the way he ran the ball into the returns last night. I think he's got some ability to make an impact there." Lee did the best when he was running north-south but also happened to get decent yardage stringing out some returns east-west too. Those returns weren't as effective, but still not bad.

Attention will now turn to the New York Jets, at least for Mike McCarthy. "As McCarthy made very clear, fans can revel in the victory and ride the rollercoaster of emotions from the Packers’ back-to-back three-point losses in overtime to Washington and Miami to Sunday night’s exorcism of Favre and the Vikings, who’d swept the Packers last season and had won three straight in the series. But the coach doesn’t do that," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin. It's the absolutely correct response to move on from a emotionally-charged victory like Sunday's for the head coach. Just keep plugging away.

Running back James Davis has been waived by the Cleveland Browns, and Daniel Wolf of Bleacher Report thinks the Packers should put in a claim. "Any running back who can keep a talent like (C.J.) Spiller on the bench is worth a shot especially since current starting running back Brandon Jackson does not seem to be a fit as a starter right now," writes Wolf. The only thing is that the Packers would have to make even more room for Davis.

Wilde only points out the missed penalties that would benifit the vikings. I think there were far more that they missed on the packers; CM3 was getting held/hands to the face on every play until they finally had to call it on that last driver. Look at Frank Walker holding and interfering with Jennings the whole night resulting in an INT, it was an absolutely poor game of officiating. I honestly believe that if the NFL wants to fix this they will remove Scott Green from the NFL rotation of refs, its not like this is the first game he has ruined due to officiating (i.e. 2009 NFC Wildcard Game). C'mon Man.

That's true it is Serendipitous. I don't think many were expecting Favre's streak to end now. We just wanted a victory against the old coot, but if it happens I'll enjoy watching him holding a clipboard next week too.

The Bleacher Report is such a terrible site. It gives a voice to any hack who thinks he/she knows something about sports and is filled with gossip-oriented junk. If there are any good writers there, I apologize because you're surrounded by quite the odor.

With that said, someone thinks we're seriously going to replace Brandon Jackson with James Davis? There's a reason he was cut by the Cleveland Browns, people. But now we want to make him our starting running back? B-Jax is more than carrying the light load that he's been given, and I would even argue that he should get more carries. I don't think it's at all fair to say he isn't working as a starter.

I have no problem admitting that Shiancoe's catch was a TD. While watching it, I told my family "that's a touchdown, another bad McCarthy challenge".

But if we give Chilly that call, will he give back the 3-4 holding calls that weren't made, the poor spots on successive plays that resulted in a turnover on downs? There were other missed calls that hurt the Packers that I saw when I rewatched the game that I can't remember now. Will Chilly take that swap? Those impacted the outcome of the game, too.

Speaking of the 3rd &amp; 4th down bad spots, McCarthy didn't challenge them. Do you think he realized that he still had a 3rd challenge? I wonder if he didn't know he had another challenge. If so, why not use it on the 4th and Kuhn keeps going play? It seemed pretty clear that he wasn't down. And even clearer was the 3rd and short play before where Jennings was clearly past the sticks.

Maybe McCarthy was being judicious. But his history of stupid challenges suggests otherwise. Which is why I wonder if he just didn't realize he had another one. Did any reporter ask him this in his press conference.

Yeah, Shiancoe's catch hit the ground hanging out of his hands, then he pulled it into his gut. To me this is unquestionably a trap. Of course, if the ground were lowered about a foot I think Shiancoe would've maintained possession and tucked it away, but hey, the ground is perhaps the most integral part of a football game, besides the players and the ball. I really don't understand all the confusion, the ground can't function as an aide to the catch, period.

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"I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious."